Injuries are something all athletes experience. Some people sadly come across them more often than others, but we all bounce back from them one way or another. If there’s anything I’ve learned since my freshman year back in 2013, it’s that injuries can certainly make or break you as a person.
I am a Distance runner (Cross Country & Track) at Mansfield University, where I have now broken my right and left foot, strained my psoas to the point I couldn’t run, and I am currently on “Stress Fracture Watch” on my left foot once again. I was never this injured, so college taught me quite a bit about disappointment and over coming adversity. Nevertheless, I hope the following items can help you out during this point in your athletic career.
1. Speak!
Hiding an injury from your coach to make sure you can still play your game/race may seem so appealing, but it totally isn’t worth it. I hid my broken right foot from my coach for four months until camp week, where we ran a time trial four miles up the side of a mountain where I totally crashed, burned, and ended up being in a boot for 12 weeks. Moral of this story, it's better to attack it when it all starts; that way it may be a few days of you being out rather than a whole season.
2. Think Positive
Being away from the team, not having to go to practice, and not participating in games/meets take a mental toll on you. But look at it this way… your body was telling you, “Hey, something's wrong, listen to me!!!” and now you get to take a step back, evaluate it, and fix it before it becomes an issue again. When I broke my foot the first time, it allowed me to take a step back, learn I need custom orthotics, and become used to them before I got back hammering mileage into the roads.
Instead of focusing on the fact that I couldn’t run, I focused on the fact that, well, I get to cross train for XX amount of time today, which means I’m one step closer to running! It never helps anything when you complain.
3. It's not the end of the world, it’s only a speed bump
This saying has gotten me through the three seasons I’ve now had to sit out… You know when you’re driving super fast and you hit a speed bump,what happens: you get jostled around super hard from being so reckless. Nevertheless, you can keep on going on your way. This is what an injury is to me. Your working hard, making progress, then bam, you get hurt. A few days go by and your back doing your thing. It may have felt like an eternity, but when your back at practice, nothing changed. Yes, you may feel the “cobwebs” getting out of your system, but it's not like you forgot how to play.
4. Every set back is making you have a bigger and better come back.
You may be thinking “Well, Molly, how do you have a big come back after continuously breaking you foot?!” and my answer is, “I let nothing hold me back.” Yes, being in a boot made me slower for portions of a season, but with perseverance and patience I have now gone from being tail-end of my team, barely making it through workouts and long runs, to now racing with the top group of girls on my team and running with better form than I have ever dreamed.
Injuries suck; believe me, I know. But if you keep your head up, cross train and recover like there is no tomorrow, nothing will affect you. So keep your head up, appreciate every little step of progress you make, and don’t isolate yourself in a bucket of sadness. It’s not worth it. The days move onward whether you like it or not, so make the best of it. Each day forward is one day closer to being back at it.
I’m proud to say that I ran my first XC meet (back in September of 2015) in two years after losing my freshman and sophomore seasons due to two broken feet. If I can get through that, you can too. I have all the faith in the world in you.
